Deadly Deadline
by internallyscreamingdaily
Summary: If the Shredder had not killed Splinter when the Triceratons invaded, what would have happened as a result? Would things turn out for the better or go horribly wrong? Would the turtles still have to go back in time again to prevent its happening before the world was destroyed? Note: Is very specific to the 2012 version
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know, I usually have a story entirely written before I post it so that posting only takes 2-3 days for the entire story, but this is a very long fan fiction, so I couldn't wait until it was done. I have six chapters written in advance, but it still may take longer to post. Hope you enjoy it!**

 **I do not own rights to TMNT**

* * *

Lasers were everywhere. The timer on the deadly weapon counted down with every second that passed. _Beep. Beep. Beep._

Splinter ran towards the timer, his hand outstretched, with the Shredder right behind him.

Leo looked up from the triceraton that he had just knocked out, and quickly realized what was going to happen.

"SENSEI, LOOK OUT!"

As Splinter turned, his eyes grew wide. Leonardo jumped between his father and his greatest enemy as the Shredder carried out the blow.

There was a sickening crunch as two blades came out the back of Leo's plastron.

"Leo!"

"LEO!"

"LEONARDO!"

Leo froze, his arms held out wide to protect his Sensei. Then he fell, with blood dripping down his chest.

Splinter was immediately swarmed by painful memories. Tang Shen had jumped between the two with her arms held out all those years ago, and just as she had, Leo fell to the ground, pierced by the blades.

Something inside Splinter snapped. He hissed and catapulted himself onto the murderer, clawing and biting not unlike a wild beast.

Donnie raced to his oldest brother's unmoving form, followed shortly by April and Casey.

"He's still breathing! You try to fight them, I'll help him!"

But it was too late. The heart of darkness rose into the sky, creating a vortex that started sucking everything into it. The triceratons fled, teleporting away one by one.

Amidst all of the chaos, Raph had lost track of his brothers. "Guys!" he yelled. "Guys, where are you?"

"I'm here," Mikey said from behind him.

It was too late to try to find anyone else. Raph could already feel the black hole trying to pull him in. This was the end, and they knew it. Raph's heart was torn in two by the expression his youngest brother wore. Tears were freely flowing down his face, and his eyes showed nothing but pure terror.

"Mikey..." the red-masked turtle breathed, bringing him into a hug. "I- I love you little bro."

"I love you too," Mikey choked.

"Guys!" came a voice from somewhere, sounding very distant against all the noise. "Where are you?"

Raph looked up to see a tall form. "Donnie!"

The next second, what he could see of his brother was swallowed into darkness again. Mikey clenched his hand and sobbed.

"Donnie! No!"

"NO!" Raph woke with a start, sitting up on his bed. Mikey was still holding his hand, his face still wet with tears.

"Y-you're okay, Raph. It was j-just a nightmare," he said, his voice breaking.

Raph leaned forward, bringing his little brother into a hug, and sobbed onto his shoulder.

Professor Honeycut watched solemnly from the corner of the room on his ship, the Ulixes, feeling very sorry for the two.

"I promise, buddy, we'll get them back," Raph sobbed. "We're working on a plan."


	2. Chapter 2

It had been two weeks since they had jumped back in time. The Ulixes orbited the earth while the three tried to come up with the best plan.

Days on the ship were often dull. Each morning, Michelangelo would roll out of bed, thinking he had slept through his alarm and would try to rush to the kitchen to make breakfast so that Donnie got his coffee before he fell asleep in his lab, and Leo got his tea right after meditating, only to realize that there was no Donnie or Leo. The Professor had only been able to save him and Raph.

Raphael didn't have a great start to every day, either. Hearing his brother's heartbroken sobs through the wall wasn't exactly what he called a welcome wake-up call.

The brightness in Mikey's eyes seemed to have faded with his motivation. He usually spent days locked up in his temporary bedroom, unable to stop thinking about what had happened. He barely talked or ate, or did anything else, for that matter.

Raph spent his time on the bridge with the Fugetoid until he went to bed at ten every night. He tried to help with making the plans as much as he could, but he couldn't understand half of the things the professor was saying, which made him feel a bit stupid and useless, but those emotions were nothing compared to the fact that it made him miss Donnie all the more.

After another day of the new routine, Raphael sighed, heading to his quarters, but he stopped and looked up when he heard the intercom come on.

"Turtles, I need you on the bridge, please."

"What is it Fugetoid?" Raph asked as the doors to the elevator slid open, allowing him to see Michelangelo and the white robot waiting for him in the room.

"I think I've found the solution!" he responded, his robotic face showing as much excitement as a robotic face could show.

Raph took a seat next to his little brother, suddenly much more interested.

"We've been trying to find a way to beat the Triceratons to the black hole generator pieces and avoid confrontation, but were unsure of a way to do it quick enough to evade them, right? What if we're looking at this all wrong? It is far too dangerous to go into space to try to stop them, as they are already there. What if we could stop them from the earth?"

"How are we gonna do that?" Raph asked.

"The generator is invincible to all but a combination of fusion and dark matter. I believe that the earth has all the components I need to build a weapon to destroy it. However, it may be difficult to retrieve them. I need your help with that, Raphael."

"But what about Mikey?"

"I'm afraid tampering with the past will have an effect on the future. That's where you come in, Michelangelo. You and your brothers deal with alien threats, and if something went wrong, the result could be catastrophic. I need you to make sure that everything runs as smoothly as the first time around, and that your brothers can save the world from the Shredder and Kraang."

The professor handed Mikey a small device.

"This is a communication device, but I'm afraid we'll have to keep the socialization to a bare minimum. We'll send you to keep an eye on your brothers, and if they find this, it will be hard to explain, and you can't tell them the truth because it will definitely change the past if they find out that you aren't their Michelangelo."

"Uh... professor? I think they'd find out anyway, if there were two Mikeys running around. I mean, the past has a Mikey, too."

"Oh. Yes. Um, slight bump in the road, but we may have to... kidnap... the past Michelangelo... a little?"


	3. Chapter 3

Plunk... plunk... plunk...

A small stream of water dripped steadily into the puddle below. The past Michelangelo yawned, gazing up at the grate, where only a few rays of sunshine of the dying day filtered into the dark tunnel.

Plunk... plunk... plunk...

He sighed, breathing in the damp, musty air, and tapped his foot impatiently.

Plunk... plunk... plunk... CRASH!

"Augh!" he screamed from the wet floor, struggling to get up, but someone was holding him down. He squinted up through the near- darkness and froze.

That someone was him.

"What's happening?" he cried, but could say no more, as a blow to the head made him go limp.

"I've never seen you attack anyone that mercilessly," came Raphael's concerned voice from the darkness of the tunnel.

"I'm not afraid of hurting him, and besides, the job had to be done right the first time. We couldn't risk him running away and telling the others. That would change the past," the future Michelangelo responded, holding up his own unconscious form by the top of the shell.

Raph and the professor emerged from the shadows. The Fugetoid took the unconscious turtle from Mikey and supported him in a much gentler manner. "We'll put him into stasis as soon as we get back to the ship."

Raphael walked up to Mikey and enveloped him in a tight hug. "Good luck, little bro."

Michelangelo returned the embrace. "To you, too."

There was the sound of an engine roaring to a stop right above the grate.

"Pizza for... Hamato?"

The two brothers looked up, where they could see a pizza delivery boy confusedly looking around. Raph squeezed Mikey's hand.

Mikey would take that pizza, then go back to the lair and pretend that he was the past Michelangelo for the next six months...

Raphael nodded encouragingly, then let go of the only family he had left.


	4. Chapter 4

Fugetoid tapped away at the console, unaware that Raph's worried eyes were glazed, staring into the distance at nothing in general.

"The first piece I need is located in China in the southern part of Bejing. I think the ship will be able to get there by... are you all right, Raphael?"

When he heard he was being addressed, he snapped out of his stupor and took a second to register what the professor had just said.

"I don't think I've been 'all right' in a few weeks, to be honest with you."

The robot wore something of a understanding expression. "We'll contact Michelangelo tonight after patrol hours, just to make sure everything went as smooth as planned."

Raph's mood improved at this, and he nodded as the spaceship started to move forward.

* * *

A wave of nostalgia swept over Michelangelo as he carried the pizzas through the old subway tunnel. He had done this so many times before, and yet, it felt so different.

He stopped at the familiar giant stone arch. He turned to it and walked forward again, taking in every detail of the support beams and turnstiles. The bars of a single turnstile turned to allow him in with a satisfying click. As he gazed around, it took all he had to keep from dropping the boxes.

There was the lair, just as he remembered it. The arcade games beeped to fill the expansive room with their sound. The tire swing hung still over a pool of water, right in front of the tinted windows of the dojo, and from the dojo led stone steps, each rather small. The corridor to the bedrooms was dimly lit as always. The floor in the living room sunk down to form couches, then the TV pit, with the TV blaring just as loud as always.

Mikey smiled as he saw Leo in front of it with a dorky grin spread over his face, his attentive eyes illuminated by the screen. The past Raph sat on the beanbag chair behind him, immersed in a magazine.

"There you are," came a fruity voice from behind Mikey, making him jump.

"Donnie!" he exclaimed, setting the pizza boxes down.

"Who were you expecting? Megan Fox- gah!"

Donatello lurched forward as Mikey pulled him into a tight hug. Confused, he stayed frozen in place as his younger brother released him to do the same to Leo.

"Is everything all right, my son?"

The orange-banded turtle let go of Leo and turned around to see his father.

"Sensei!"

He ran up and gave Splinter a hug, too, just as April stopped beside Raph to see what was going on.

Michelangelo then turned to Raph and April and tried to wrap them in an embrace, but Raph took a step back to avoid it, leaving only a very befuddled April to be hugged. Mikey didn't mind. Raph was being Raph again. Whenever Raphael stuck around him on the spaceship, Mikey always knew why, and it reminded him too much of what had happened a few weeks ago.

It was only then that Mikey realized that he had tears in his eyes. He mustn't let them see him like this; it might make them suspicious if they weren't already.

He raced out of the room and into the corridor, out of view. Before he got to his room, however, he heard April's voice.

"Um, I know Mikey's usually very affectionate, but, um, what was that?"

Donnie was the next to speak. "I guess he's still a bit shaken from the invasion."

Michelangelo froze. _Invasion? How could they know-_

"Who can blame him?" Leo chimed in. "After all the Kraang did-"

"I'm gonna smash those nasty bubblegum wads if they ever show their ugly pink faces again!"

 _Right. This must be a few weeks after the Kraang invasion._ Mikey mentally facepalmed before continuing to his room.

Splinter watched the hallway where his youngest son had just disappeared. Despite Donnie's explanation, he thought something else might be going on...


	5. Chapter 5

It was two in the morning, but Michelangelo still lay awake in bed, unable to fall asleep. He shifted his position and stared into the darkness.

 _Blip-blip-beep._

He jumped, startled by the sound, then turned his head to listen for where it had come from.

 _Blip-blip-beep._

He reached under his mattress where he had hidden the device that the Fugetoid had given him. He pulled it out and sat it on the floor before flopping down beside it to wait.

 _Blip-blip-beep._

When the sound came again, the lights on its metallic cover flashed, confirming that this was the source of the noise. Mikey flipped a switch on the side of the object, and three-dimensional figures of Raph and the Professor appeared in the air above it, about the size of dolls.

"How ya doin', little brother?" the figure of Raph asked.

"You go first," Mikey responded.

"Great! We got the first piece!"

"Sweet!"

"Yeah," said Raph with an apprehensive chuckle. "One down, sixty- five to go!"

"At least you're off to a good start," Mikey said, and Raph smiled, seeing that his brother was closer to being his old optimistic self than he had been in weeks.

"What about you?"

Mikey's expression suddenly turned melancholy. "I missed them so much. It's hard to contain myself. I just want to break down and tell them everything that happened and how much I'm glad to see them."

Raph nodded. "I know. I would, too, in your position. But you just have to keep it quiet for now, for sake of stopping the Triceratons."

"It's not just the Triceratons we're up against," Mikey reminded him. "Last time they came, the destroyed the Technodrome. The Kraang want to take over the world, too."

"Right," Raphael responded, biting his lip. "Well, if nothing is done, it will rise on the exact same day as last time, so I say we delay it so that we can deal with one problem at a time."

" _...Delay it?"_

"Go in and smash everything so that it takes longer to repair."

Mikey nodded, surprised by the soundness of Raph's destructive plan. "When can we do it?"

"I say the sooner the better. We have a tight schedule to follow, and we need to know how much it will effect it," Professor Honeycut chimed in.

"Meet us tomorrow night at the docks nearest to where the Technodrome crashed. Come as soon as you can safely sneak out. We'll wait for you there," Raph said.

"See you there," Mikey replied, and the figures of Raph and Honeycut disappeared as the device turned off.


	6. Chapter 6

Leo lay on the couch, his chest rising and falling with each gentle snore. The television was on, although it had been quite a few minutes since anyone had paid any attention to it.

The light was still on in Donnie's lab, but the lack of noise coming from it indicated that its occupant had pushed himself too hard again and fallen asleep.

Raph had gone to bed after the long patrol, leaving Mikey the only one awake. He tiptoed through the living room, careful to make no sound.

The orange-banded turtle let out a sigh of relief as he made it to the edge of the room, but just in case, walked backwards to make sure Leo showed no signs of hearing him.

The leader stayed still as Mikey made his way back. _Piece of cake,_ he thought, but then immediately regretted it. He tripped over a pizza box and stumbled backwards into a turnstile, which clicked loudly as it rotated to let him through and sent him crashing to the ground on the other side.

Mikey gasped and dove behind the stone wall that bordered the exit. He held his breath and waited, one minute, then two. Mustering his courage, he peeked out from behind the wall.

Leo had stood up and was staring in his direction. Mikey quickly ducked back, but it was too late. He could hear footsteps approaching.

 _Did he see me, or just the movement?_

The young turtle climbed the wall behind him and stopped at the top, digging his palms and heels into the cold rock, although the rough sediment sent biting pain through his nerves.

Leo stopped below Mikey. The freckled ninja knew that if he lost his grip, the result would be catastrophic.

Leonardo looked around, rubbed his eyes, and returned the way he came.

As soon as he was gone, Mikey jumped down, lightly landing on his feet. He allowed himself to breathe again, and he shook his head, willing his heart to stop pounding so furiously against his ribs before sprinting along the railroad tracks.

* * *

 _This is the dock closest to where it crashed... are they here?_

Mikey sat along a shipping crate to wait and listened for them.

A few minutes passed, but the only sounds he heard were crickets, distant vehicles, and the rhythmic lapping of water on wood.

The sounds were actually quite soothing, and despite his situation, he felt himself growing calm and relaxed.

A few more minutes ticked by, each as uneventful as the last. Michelangelo rested his head against the pleasantly cool metal of the crate and closed his eyes.

He was exhausted. Two nights ago, he had been kept up by horrifying nightmares, last night by apprehension... this would be the third consecutive night without any sleep. Trying to remember and repeat all of his actions from six months so that this time would turn out as similar as the last as possible was tedious, too, and it didn't help that tonight's patrol was a lot longer than usual.

The sounds of the night seemed to grow a little more distant with each passing second, until they were like the whispers of a gentle breeze.

Mikey fell into a drowse, becoming barely aware of what was going on around.

A hand grabbed his shoulder. He blinked his eyes open, taking a few seconds to come back to reality.

"Mikey?" said the owner of the three-fingered hand.

Michelangelo smiled sleepily and stood, ready to greet Raph with a hug and ask him how he was doing.

"What on Earth are you doing here?"

It wasn't until the youngest turtle heard this sentence that he could consciously recognize the voice.

Raph hadn't found him.

Leo had followed him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. I was on vacation, but while I was there, I had the time to write this! Yay! Sorry, it's a long chapter.**

* * *

"I could ask you the same question!" Mikey blurted, unable to think of anything else to say.

Leo looked mad, even a little disappointed. "Making sure you didn't get into trouble. What were you thinking, sneaking out here?"

"Sometimes I come up here to think and relax and see the stars," Mikey lied, hoping Leo's appreciation for nature would make it likelier than it sounded.

The oldest's expression turned skeptical. "Why come all the way out here?"

Mikey felt his heart racing as he tried to come up with an explanation. "I... like to get away from all the buildings... people are... less likely to see me... and... the smoke from the factories makes the sky hard to see. It's more peaceful out here."

"Okay, but why didn't you tell us?"

"What would Raph say if I said I was going up to _think?"_

Leo paused, then slowly nodded, thinking it all through.

 _He's going to ask me a question that I'm not going to be able to answer and then he'll know something's going on I'm doomed._

Mikey tensed as Leo opened his mouth to ask him another question, and Mikey didn't expect what came next.

"May I join you?"

"I- what?"

 _He believes me?_

Michelangelo blinked. All those terrible lies, and Leo believed him. His insides felt as if someone had tied them in a knot as he realized why.

He didn't have a reason not to. He trusted him. Mikey had never snuck out before. He had never done anything to his oldest brother more than a prank.

He had never kept a big secret from him. Not until now.

What reason did Leo have _not_ to trust what Mikey was saying?

But there the youngest turtle was, lying to his beloved brother, just weeks after thinking he was dead for good. To say Michelangelo felt terrible would be an understatement.

"S-sure, dude," he managed to say through a wave of guilt, not wanting to make him any more skeptical.

Leo smiled, but Mikey wasn't looking at him anymore. He was looking at what was _behind_ him.

The professor walked into view around the next shipping crate and looked around. He stopped when he saw the two turtles, then glanced from one to the other, unsure of what to do.

Mikey could see Raph a few paces behind Honeycut, frozen in place, knowing that if Leo saw them, there would be questions, and it could easily jeopardize the mission.

Leo furrowed his brow when he saw that Mikey was gazing at something behind him. He turned his head to look.

At the same instant, Raphael tackled Professor Honeycut into another alley of crates so that they could not see him, but the movement resulted in a loud CRASH.

"What was that?" Leo hissed.

"Um... probably a stray cat; they're around here all the time," Mikey responded.

"No. That was too loud. Someone's here. We should go." He motioned for his little to follow him before sprinting off in the direction of the lair.

Raph peered out from where he and the professor were hiding. "You better go, Mikey. We can't make him any more uncertain. The professor and I will take care of this. We'll contact you when we get back."

Michelangelo wanted to help them, but there was no way he could safely go with them now. He reluctantly nodded before following his oldest brother.

* * *

Mikey paced his room for what seemed like hours, but the communication device remained silent. He worried for his brother and friend, wondering if they were okay.

What if something happened to them and he wasn't there to help? Horrific scenarios of what could go wrong played through his mind, each unlikelier than the last, until his imagination let him think up a torture machine that involved evil clowns and electric squid-creatures.

 _Blip-blip-beep._

Michelangelo darted to his bed, jerked the device from under the mattress, and flipped the switch.

The figure of Raphael smiled up at him. "We did it."

"Are you both okay?"

"Fine."

Mikey sighed as relief flooded through his veins. "Good."

Raph nodded. "Why was Leo there?"

"Oh. He followed me when I snuck out."

The red-masked turtle's eyes grew wide at this. "Is this going to be a problem?"

"I came up with an explanation."

"And he bought it?"

"I think so."

"Okay. You should be careful around him, just in case. And Mikey?"

"Yeah?"

"Get some rest. It looks like you need it. Love ya, little bro."

"Love you too."

The figure of Raph disappeared as the device turned off. Mikey placed it back under his mattress with a yawn. He flicked the light switch, flooding the room with the darkness, laid back on his bed, and was instantly asleep.

Perhaps he would not have slept so well if he knew what was in store for him.

* * *

 **So, I just realized that Honeycutt is spelled with two t's, not one. I've been misspelling it this whole time! I apologize if it has been annoying any of you guys, and I'll try to spell it correctly from now on. Hopefully. Whoops. Round of applause to me.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Wow, it's been a long time, huh? Sorry for taking so long... guess I kinda lost motivation... but I'm back! To make it up to you, I'll try to write a few chapters on this extended weekend that we have.**

* * *

The next three months passed slowly but surely. No one seemed to have any suspicions about Mikey, and he gradually settled, getting used to his new routine. Raph and Professor Honeycutt called him twice a week, each time in high spirits, telling him that they had acquired a new piece or two. However, there was a tension that seemed to grow as their precious six months ticked by day by day. They only had seven weeks now.

They had contacted him the night before, so Mikey decided to take his skateboard out for a late-night ride. He listened to his favorite songs on his T-phone as he skated from roof to roof. The chilly air kept him awake despite the long hours he passed by. Finally he decided it was time to head home and get some sleep before training the next day.

Michelangelo slid the manhole cover back into place before climbing down the metal rungs and landing gracefully on the damp floor. He navigated his way by memory for only a few minutes before he heard a noise.

Every muscle in his body froze stiff. It was a voice, coming from just around the corner. One that was familiar to him. He held his breath and crept slowly towards it. He bravely looked around the corner, and his heart almost stopped when he saw it- or rather- _him._

The Triceraton Zog was stomping through the sewer, looking at some sort of alien technology. Unlike last time, he seemed perfectly healthy.

 _Dude, his nitrogen supply isn't damaged like last time. Something changed. Oh, this is bad. Who knows what he'll be able to do now? I have to stop him._

Mustering all his courage, Michelangelo took a deep breath, then charged forward, emitting a thunderous battle cry from his throat.

Zog turned in surprise to see the young turtle diving at him from above, spinning his nunchucks skillfully in his hands. He caught the terrapin with his giant scaly paw, putting intense pressure on all sides of the turtle's shell.

 _Aw, sewer apples._

Mikey squirmed in a panic, desperate to free himself. "Let go of me, you overgrown lizard! I gotta go ninja all over yo FACE! You won't kill my brothers again, you hear me? We'll take all of you space bullies to the GROUND!"

The Triceraton smashed him against the tunnel, leaving a crack in the stone. Mikey let out a pained groan before his eyes closed and his head rolled onto his shoulder.

Zog used his tech to teleport into a small, enclosed space between four buildings where his scout ship was cloaked. He threw the unconscious ninja unceremoniously into the cockpit before walking in himself and sitting in front of the controls. After closing the hatch, he glided up slowly then blasted into the sky.

"Captain Mozar," he spoke into a gadget.

"I'm returning to the mothership with one of the Earth creatures..."


	9. Chapter 9

The shuttle arrived an impressive two hours later. Zog looked back at his captive, who was beginning to stir.

His orders were to bring the earthling to Mozar himself. He grabbed the turtle, opened the hatch, and stomped out of the shuttle onto the rock floor of the ship.

Some other Triceratons saluted him as he passed, some interestedly surveyed the terrapin he was carrying.

He tramped through a few hallways before reaching an open doorway. He stood there, waiting permission to enter.

Mozar, standing beside the captain's chair, nodded to Zog.

As he came forth, he noticed that someone was occupying the chair. Only when he neared did he realize that he was face-to-face with their very own emperor.

"Emperor Zanmoran?" he gasped.

"Captain Mozar informed me of the situation and I thought it might be of interest to me," he explained.

"Well?" Mozar demanded. "Let's see the Earth creature!"

Zog tossed Mikey on the floor. He groaned, regaining consciousness, and struggled to push himself into a kneeling position as his eyes darted around the room.

 _Where...? Oh, no._

The three Triceratons watched as Mikey frantically looked around.

"He seems to know who we are," observed Zog. "He also said he knew we were from space when he attacked me."

A murmur passed through the room.

"He attacked you?" Mozar seethed.

"You reported that this... Earth is a shelter to the Kraang?"

"Yes, Emperor."

"Obviously this infernal beast is with them!" Mozar barked. "Dispose of him at once!"

The emperor shook his head. "This creature seems to possess too much conscious thought to be one of the Kraang's drones, and he also appears to have the capacity for emotion. Where there is emotion, there is care, is there not? If we destroy him, we risk anyone who cares about him to try to find him, and perhaps consequently, us."

"What do you suggest?"

"Ready the pscyonic extractor. We need to know what he knows. Then we'll wipe any knowledge or memory he has of us and send him back. Then we'll destroy the Earth once we aquire the Heart of Darkness."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * On a normal day, Mikey would have given anything to be back here, in the chair in front of the strange machine. He would have waited eagerly for someone to turn it on. Today, on the other hand, he would have given anything to be back at home.

He had heard his captors. They were going to wipe all his memories of them. What about his mission with Raph and Professor Honeycutt? Would he remember that. No, they wouldn't leave those memories. There would be too many loose ends where memories of them that he used to have would fit. He struggled against the cuffs that bound him to the chair.

"Sit still, Earthling, and this will hurt less."

Mikey ignored him. Little did they know that this machine wouldn't hurt him at all.

"Guys, can... can we talk about this?" His stomach churned with anxious nausea, and the fact that his head throbbed from where Zog had crushed him into the wall didn't help.

Again, his plea was ignored.

"Are you ready?" Mozar asked, getting a nod and some alien gurgles in response from the workers controlling the machine. "Then do it already!"

Mikey frantically writhed in the chair as the triangular machine started to spin. A beam of light raced at his head, and all of a sudden, the ship disappeared, replaced by an eternity of pitch blackness. Colors started flashing by. He was incredibly energetic, fast, and strong.

He knew all of this was just an illusion created by the extractor. He was still secured to the chair in the spaceship. He tried to fight against the the cuffs with this new strength; strength that he didn't actually have. The restraints held firm.

Suddenly, all his energy was drained from him, and he was falling into the interminable darkness.

The machine powered down, letting the Triceratons see that the turtle was again unconscious; an effect of wiping his memories.

"Find anything interesting?" the Emperor asked the workers.

"He appears to be an enemy of the Kraang."

"Excellent. This will make things so much easier."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey, guys! I hope you all had a BEAUTIFUL Thanksgiving.**

 **So... hehe. It's been two months, huh? Don't worry, I haven't died. But I think the time between chapters has gotten a bit ridiculous. Some of you are probably mad at me right now for not updating. I'm sort of mad at myself. I just got really unmotivated.**

 **But I don't want to keep you guys waiting, so, to solve this problem, I give you guys permission to get on my case if I haven't updated for a week until I finish this story.**

 **I've learned my lesson, and I'll go back to writing the entire story beforehand next time.**

 **Apologies.**

* * *

"Mikey? Mikey!"

Michelangelo blinked his eyes open with a groan. His head ached with pounding throbs, but he couldn't place why.

He gazed around the room, waiting for his vision to clear up.

Kraangdroids were smashed everywhere, some shattered into tiny pieces, all of them missing their pink alien pilots. Bits of their technology were also scattered around the room, sparking with unused electricity.

"Mikey, what happened?"

He looked in front of him to see his three older brothers staring back down with concerned expressions.

"I... I don't remember."

He regretted telling them this a second later when their concern grew visibly deeper.

"You probably tried to fight them and got knocked out," Donnie said, rummaging in his belt. He produced a flashlight and gently lifted his little brother's chin, making him look at it. "It looks like you got hit in the head."

Mikey groaned and tried to look away as Donnie clicked the light on.

"Sorry, buddy... your pupils aren't responding to the presence of light like they should. You have a concussion. That probably explains why you don't remember anything."

"Is he gonna be okay?" Leo asked at once.

"After a few days' rest," Donnie replied.

Michelangelo looked around at the fragmented robot parts. It was hard for him to believe that _he_ was the one who did this destruction. It seemed that only someone a lot stronger than him would be capable of this, perhaps someone much bigger.

For some reason, an image of a weird dinosaur fighting the Kraang popped into his head. He thought it was something his imagination had put into his head, but why a dinosaur?

"Let's get him back to the lair."

Mikey tried to stand, but Donatello scooped him up in his arms, insisting that he shouldn't walk yet.

"I'm sorry it took us so long to find you. I tried to track your T-phone when you didn't answer your calls, but not only were there _two_ signals, one of them seemed to be in the sky, and the other on the other side of the world. Weird, right? I think your T-phone is malfunctioning."

"Yeah, that is weird," Mikey agreed, but it didn't bother him much. In fact, the only thing that was bothering him now was the pounding ache of his head. The Shredder and the Kraang had remained quiet for a while, and there were no other threats that he knew of. Why should he worry? Everything was fine.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey y'all! So, I really lost motivation and wasn't sure if I would even be able to finish this story, but today I was rereading some of the earlier reviews that you guys gave me, and that was all I needed. Thank you so much, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Raphael stared blankly at the stasis chamber in front of him. Although he could not see into it, he knew that it contained the past version of his little brother. Mikey.

Behind him, the door beeped twice, then opened, and Professor Honeycutt stepped inside. "Raphael, good news! I have located the final piece of the machine that we need just inside New York Ci- Raphael? Are you all right?"

Heavy silence hung in the air for a few moments.

"It's been weeks."

"Pardon?"

"It's been weeks since Mikey has responded to our calls." He turned to face the professor. "What if something happened to him?"

The professor struggled to find the right words. "He'll be fine, Raphael."

"Fine? If he was 'fine', he'd answer us! I can't believe we just sent him down there alone and expected everything to turn out all right! He's the only family I have left, and because of my carelessness, he's probably DEAD!"

Honeycutt tried to put a soothing hand on his friend's shoulder, but Raph grabbed hold of him and slammed him into the covering of the stasis pod.

"Get him out of there!" He demanded, jabbing a finger at the pod.

"But-"

"Get! Him! Out!"

Honeycutt nodded and hurried to unlock the pod.

Metal doors swung open and fog was released into the room. Once it had cleared, they watched the past Mikey rub the back of his head and groan. He took a few seconds to focus before taking in his surroundings, then gasped with the realization that he wasn't at home.

* * *

The present Michelangelo sat alone on the tire swing in the unusually quiet lair. When his brothers had told him that they were going to Mr. Murakami's, he had insisted on staying behind, receiving concerned glances and a few varying forms of the question "are you sure" in response. But eventually, after convincing the guys to go on without him, Leo had promised to bring him a few pizza gyoza upon their return.

He needed some time alone, although he wouldn't directly tell them. Despite what his brothers thought, he was smart enough to know that telling them "he needed some time to think" would result in some critic responses- especially from Raph.

Now that they were gone, however, Michelangelo found the silence in the lair was just as distracting. It felt... unnatural. Wrong. Like how the lair would feel if his dear brothers went out on patrol one day and didn't come back...

He dismissed the thought as soon as it occurred, shocked at his own pessimism. No. That wouldn't happen; everything was fine. What kept provoking these thoughts? There was nothing obvious; no recent trauma or anything, except...

Michelangelo thought back to the time when he'd been knocked out at that Kraang base. He'd had this awful knot at the pit of his stomach since then, a feeling of something being a bit... off. Had he forgotten something? He laughed humorlessly to himself. _That_ wouldn't be a first. But if it was truly worth remembering, even _he_ would... right? Then again, he thought, he had trouble remembering _anything_ from around that time, even blanking when his brothers asked him something about the few months before the incident. Donnie had blamed that on his concussion.

Mikey resurfaced from his thoughts with the realization that he'd been able to get lost in them in the first place despite the chilling silence of the lair, and found the reason for that- he'd subconsciously been sloshing his foot around in the water below him to create some noise. He also had unknowingly taken an unnaturally stiff position. His shoulders were rigid and his arms were crossed.

April had apparently noticed the change in his posture, too, going by the look on her face- the same concerned glance that Mikey had already received several times that evening. Wait, when had she gotten here?

"Um, where are the guys?"

"Out."

"They left without you?"

"Staying behind was my own decision."

Okay, now this really had her attention. Sure, she had sensed something wasn't quite right with Mikey a few weeks ago, but he hadn't really been acting strange until now. Social butterfly Michelangelo, stay home? By his own decision?"

"Are you okay?"

"I... I think so... I just feel like... you know when I got knocked out a few weeks back fighting the Kraang and couldn't remember exactly what happened?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I feel like... I knew something really important then... something I don't know anymore?"

April paused for a second, thinking, then offered, "If it's really bothering you, then maybe I can try to help you remember. You know, something similar to what I did to Splinter when he was disconnected from his spirt after the invasion?"

Intrigued and hopeful, Mikey leapt off his perch on the tire swing and landed gracefully in front of her. "Really? You're da best, April!"

She chuckled, sitting on the couch and motioning for him to take a seat beside her. After he did so, she closed her eyes and placed her fingers on either side of his temples.

Instantly, pictures of what had happened flooded through both of their minds. The Kraang. Bishop. Fighting. Lasers everywhere. Triceratons. The Shredder's weapons piercing Leo's chest. Losing Leo and Donnie in all of the chaos. The world being ripped to shreds. The professor coming to rescue them. Mikey and Raph attempting to comfort each other. Mikey taking place of his counterpart. The machine that the Triceratons used to wipe his memory.

Michelangelo and April pulled away from each other, gasping, stunned. April stared wide-eyed at him, muttering confused nonsense, trying to make sense of what she had just seen.

Mikey jumped at a thought. How long until the Triceratons would come back? He whipped out his phone, looked at the date and blanched. They would be coming today.


	12. Chapter 12

Mikey raced around the room. What to do? What to do? There were only a few hours until the Triceratons were due to return, and he had no idea what kind of shape Raph and the Fugetoid were in. Did they have the pieces they needed? What kind of danger did they run into trying to retrieve them? Were they hurt? Were they－

No. They were all right. They had to be. The world depended on it.

Mikey shuddered. The world had been depending on him, as well, and that one mistake… he had failed his part, hadn't he? All because of one lousy mistake!

He racked his brain. What could he do? He didn't know what needed to be done. If only there was a way to contact Raph…

Wait, was there? His eyes widened in realization. There was! He remembered now! He dashed to his room, leaving a still stunned April alone in the living room.

He skidded to a halt and toppled to his knees by his mattress. He found the device under his bed and allowed himself a few seconds for a laugh of victory before turning it on and calling Raphael and the Fugetoid.

The machine whirred and made a sound that he assumed was about the same thing as the phone ringing on the other end. Seconds ticked by. Come on, Raph pick up, he pleaded. Show me you're okay. He held his breath. The clock signaled another second passing with another tick.

Tick… tick… tick… tick… tick…

Raph, pick up. Please be okay. The world needs it.

Tick… tick… tick…

Raph, everyone is counting on you. Don't be hurt… please… don't be…

The device beeped, then the figures of Raph, the Fugetoid, and another Michelangelo appeared in the air.

"Raph! Yes!" Mikey cried, allowing a few tears to roll down his cheeks.

"Mikey! Where have you been? What happened? Why didn't you respond to our calls?"

Mikey sniffed and wiped at the tears. "I… I got attacked by the Triceratons. They took away all of the memories I had of them." Seeing Raph's shock, he quickly continued, "But it's okay now! I remember everything that happened, thanks to April!"

As if on cue, April followed Mikey into the room and looked down at the holograms, appearing even paler if at all possible.

Raphael looked up at April and smiled a melancholy smile. "April. It's good to see you; it's been so long."

"What－" she looked at Mikey for an explanation. " _What?"_

"We're dealing with a bit of a time travel situation," Raph provided.

April's expression cleared as she began to put the pieces together. "Oh!"

"How many of the pieces have you gotten?" Mikey asked. His gaze drifted to the other Michelangelo. "And what is he doing up?"

Raph looked at Michelangelo, then back at Mikey. "We explained what's going on to him, and we've got all of the pieces. Actually, all but one."

Mikey grinned. "Great! Where's the last one?"

"Donnie's lab."

"I can find the piece and bring it to you!" Mikey offered. "What does it look like?"

"Unfortunately, we don't exactly know," said Fugetoid. "We have a tracker that can lead us to the right one, but in your brother's lab, one of us would have to go in to use the tracker personally to be able to find the piece among all of the other gadgets in your brother's lab."

Mikey frowned. "But I thought that only one of each person should be in one place at one time. That it could change the future too much to find out about－"

"That doesn't matter anymore; this is the time that we do want to change. Raphael and Michelangelo and I will come down there to obtain the remaining piece and install it into the machine. If your brothers see us, we can explain the situation to them, and perhaps, they will then help us fight the Triceratons."

Mikey nodded.

Raph's hologram looked him in the eye. "See you soon, little brother."

The holograms disappeared.


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry for the confusion in this chapter. As a general rule of thumb, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo are the names I'll use for the "past" turtles. For the "future" ones, the names are Raph and Mikey. There are some exceptions in the dialogue where it felt more appropriate for the characters to refer to each other by their nicknames.**

* * *

Mikey supposed that it would be easier to get the piece and get out if Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael from the current timeline weren't in the lair at the time, and hoped that they took a long time at Murakami's. His hopes were dashed, however, when the said turtles crossed the turnstiles into the lair.

Leonardo approached him with a styrofoam carry-out box and handed it to him. "Here, Mikey. We ordered some extra for you."

"Uhh… thanks, Leo." Mikey took the box but stared at the floor while doing so. This was a dilemma indeed. Should he tell the guys now or have them see for themselves what was going on when Raph, Honeycutt, and Michelangelo got there? If he told them now, would they believe him? Considering that they hadn't even believed him about the Kraang, he thought that the possibility was pretty small, but then what would happen if he just let things be? If another Raph and Mikey came into the lair with Fugetoid with no explanation, someone might get hurt.

Leonardo sensed the uncertainty in his brother's demeanor and tilted his head to the side as if to get a better look at his baby bro. Raphael, and Donatello, who had been on their ways to the training dummy and the lab respectively, stopped and turned to watch.

"...Mikey?" Leonardo asked. "Is everything all right?"

Mikey sighed, deciding that it would be better to tell them right now, and handed the box back to Leonardo. "I… need to tell you guys something." This was not going to be easy.

Leonardo set the box to the side of the couch and sat down near April, gesturing for Mikey to do the same. As Mikey complied, Raph and Donnie walked closer to watch their brothers from either side of the couch pit.

Mikey sat in tense silence, figuring out how to explain what was going on in a way that would be the least offputting. After struggling to come up with a tactful way, though, he realized that there was no easy way to put this and that he was just wasting everyone's time by trying. There was a clock ticking. He didn't have that much time to spare.

"Alien dinosaurs called the Triceratons are going to come tonight and try to wipe out the Earth."

Raphael cackled at this. "Seriously, Mikey? Alien dinosaurs?"

Donatello shook his head. "Come on. You've been reading too many comics."

"Or watching too much TV," Leonardo said.

April scowled at them. "Guys! He's serious!"

They all fell silent.

"Um… what? You're joking, right? How would he even know that?"

Mikey gave April a grateful nod before continuing. "The last time the Triceratons came, they wiped out the entire planet. Only Raph and I survived. We were saved by an alien robot named the Fugetoid. He took us back in time to assemble a weapon that would help us fight the Triceratons this time, the last piece of which is in Donnie's lab. They're coming to get it right now so that we can complete the weapon and stop the Triceratons before they come and destroy the earth again."

Leonardo sighed and stood, holding a hand to his face. "Okay, I don't buy this. If you really went back in time like you said, there would be another copy of you. If that's true, where is he?"  
"He's with Raph."

"Okay," Leonardo said, shooting Mikey a skeptical look. "Then where is the other Raph?"

"Right here."

Everyone's heads turned as Raph jumped the turnstiles, followed shortly by Michelangelo and Honeycutt, who was carrying an odd gun-looking machine, apparently the weapon that they were going to use.

Leonardo's jaw dropped. Raphael's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Donatello's expression completely froze.

"We need the last piece of the weapon before the Triceratons fire up the black hole generator." Honeycutt looked at Donatello. "Do you mind if I look through your lab?"

Donatello didn't respond.

"...Donnie?" Mikey prompted.

"Uh… uh… lab. Right. Yeah, go ahead." His voice was monotone. He stared all the way as Fugetoid crossed the room to the lab.

Leonardo looked at Mikey. "Okay, we should have believed you."

Raph hugged Mikey tight. "I missed you, bro. I was so worried."

Mikey hugged him back. "I missed you, too."

Raphael and Michelangelo exchanged awkward glances. This was never something they thought they'd have to comprehend.

Honeycutt came out of the lab. "I've installed the last of the weapon. Are you all ready?"

Raph cracked his knuckles, the smirk that had not been on his face for so long suddenly clearer than ever. "Let's do this."

Mikey smiled. "Let's save the world!"

Leonardo blinked, still very shocked. "Uh… we'll help too, I guess."


	14. Chapter 14

The six turtles, April, and Professor Honeycutt arrived at the park about half an hour later. The Triceratons were already there, including Mozar overseeing them, but there was no sign of the black hole generator.

"Where is it?" Raph asked, hidden behind a tree in the park like the rest of the team.

As if on cue, several more Triceratons beamed down in orange triangular rays, groups of which were carrying the three separate pieces of the generator.

Leonardo gasped. "They beamed down like in Space Heroes!"

Donatello facepalmed. "I never thought I'd have to tell you this, of all people, but now is really not the time."

The Triceratons collected in a circle and assembled the three pieces together before placing the now complete black hole generator on the ground. Several engineer Triceratons beamed down and began to work to turn the device on.

"Now's our chance. We have to get in there and take it out before it destroys the entire earth," Honeycutt stated.

Michelangelo chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "No pressure."

Raph grabbed the machine built to destroy the generator from Fugetoid. "Let's do this."

"Raph, you destroy the generator," Leonardo ordered. "Everyone else, distract the Triceratons."

Everyone nodded in understanding, then they parted and ran into the open.

Laser fire was immediately upon them. They all dodged and ducked, weaving their own ways closer to their enemies. As soon as they were close enough, they countered the Triceratons' attacks with their own.

"We're under attack!" Mozar yelled. "Fire up the weapon!"

The timer began to count down and the engineers teleported away.

"No!" Mikey cried. There was only about a minute until the earth was destroyed.

Leonardo fell onto his back from an attack a Triceraton had dealt him. "Wow, these guys are tough!"  
"Really?" Raphael, who was also having a lot of trouble, shouted from across the generator. "I haven't noticed!"

Donnie dealt an elaborate series of jabs to the Triceraton he was fighting, each with hardly any effect. "Will we be able to get through them to the weapon?"

"We have to!" Leonardo replied.

Thirty seconds remained.

"Mikey! Help me with this guy!"

"On it!" Mikey and Michelangelo chorused. They raced over to help Leonardo.

Twenty seconds.

The Triceraton swung at Mikey, who dodged, and while he had his back turned, Leonardo and Michelangelo attacked him from behind. He turned to swat at Leonardo, letting Mikey sneak in a blow to his shoulder. He turned to strike Michelangelo. Leonardo and Mikey both succeeded directed attacks at his head. The Triceraton crumpled to the ground, leaving a gap in the circle.

Ten seconds.

"Raph!" Leonardo cried. "Now's your chance!"

Raph dashed through the opening and bolted towards the generator, weapon in hand.

Mozar shoved him to the ground, making the weapon topple out of his hands and slide several feet away. "Not so fast!"

Five seconds.

Mozar held Raph still, making his efforts to reach for the weapon futile.

Mikey scooped up the weapon and made a run for the machine.

"Go! Mikey! Go!" Raph yelled.

Two seconds.

Mikey leaped into the air, pointing the weapon at the generator. A Triceraton caught him in mid-air by the ankle. Mikey yelped and dangled by the Triceraton's grasp. From his new position, he aimed the weapon at the generator again.

One second.

"BOOYAKASHA!"

ZOOM.

The weapon fired up, sending a beam of light shooting towards the generator. Upon contact, the generator disintegrated into dust.

"No!" Mozar cried. A growl erupted from his throat. "Destroy these turtles!"

Mikey kicked free of the Triceraton's grasp and dashed back to where his brothers were still fighting.

Sirens sounded all around and police cars surrounded the park, followed quickly by helicopters.

Mozar roared. "Another time!" He beamed up, followed by all of his soldiers.

The turtles, Fugetoid, and April returned to their hiding spot in the trees as police started to run into the park.

"Did they see us?" Leonardo asked, peering out from his place behind a tree. The answer was apparently no, as the police began to investigate the mysterious pile of disintegrated dust instead of running after them.

Mikey laughed, tears rolling down his face. "We saved the world!"

* * *

Back in the lair, Raph, Mikey, and the Fugetoid explained in more detail what had happened over the past few months. They apologized to Michelangelo for having kidnapped him. He wasn't very impressed but seemed to understand that it was for the sake of the world and took it fairly gracefully. Fairly.

"So… there are two Raphs and Mikeys now," Donatello pointed out. "What… what are we going to do about that?"

"I will take them back on my ship and go forward in time to the point where they would be right now had the time travel thing never happened," Fugetoid explained. "Actually, we don't want to mess with space and time too much. The sooner we do that, the better."

Raph nodded. "We had better get going."

Mikey agreed. "I want to see our Leo and Donnie again. It's been so long."

They exchanged awkward goodbyes, still not having adjusted to the fact that the entire thing actually happened, and then Fugetoid, Mikey, and Raph left through the turnstiles, bringing the end of another insane adventure.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed!**

 **I know it was a long time for me to get the story completed, and I'm sorry about that. Actually, what inspired me to complete it was that I had another Ninja Turtles fanfiction idea and that I thought that it would be best to finish this one before starting the next one. The next one is going to have longer chapters, focus on all of the characters instead of just one or two, and I'm going to try to keep everyone as in character as I can. I'll be posting the first chapter of that next week.**

 **Have a good day, everyone! :)**


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